By Elizabeth Summers
The Reporter
Published July 31, 2010
The prosecution rested its case against Kathy Lowe on Friday.
Lowe is on trial in the shooting death of her husband, David Lowe, a former Marshall County Sheriff’s deputy and investigator for the Marshall County District Attorney’s office. The shooting took place on Nov. 11, 2008.
The defense team, led by Robert Tuten of Huntsville, began calling witnesses that included Marshall County District Attorney Steve Marshall, who testified he investigated allegations made by former DA employee Dola Dyson that David Lowe told her “there was a bullet with her name on it.”
Marshall said David Lowe admitted he said that and later took a medical retirement from his job as an investigator for the DA’s office.
David’s medical past
Dr. Russell Reeves and a registered nurse from his office testified David Lowe was suffering from coronary artery disease, which had necessitated a heart bypass surgery, diabetes and renal failure. Reeves testified David Lowe frequently did not follow the doctor’s recommended treatments and that in 2007, he was told the renal failure was end stage. Reeves said Lowe would have been dead “in a matter of weeks or months” because he refused to undergo dialysis.
The nurse testified due to the renal failure, toxins would build up in David Lowe’s system, causing confusion, and that she discussed this with Kathy Lowe.
Other witnesses called Friday included a couple who owned the Barnyard Grill barbecue restaurant in Albertville, a restaurant the Lowe family frequented and where Kathy and her son, Bryan, worked at one time; a private investigator employed by the defense; and law enforcement officers responding to the Lowe’s home in March 2008 to a domestic violence call.
Cell phone records
Alabama Bureau of Investigation agent Larry Crocker took the stand Thursday, discussing the cell phone service tower usage on the night of the shooting. Crocker, a computer and cell phone forensics expert, showed jurors a map outlining the Lowe’s home in relation to four towers accessed and used during specific calls placed and received Nov. 11.
Before leaving the stand, Renfroe and representatives from AT&T and Verizon Wireless, the carriers of the Lowe’s home phone and cellular services, testified.
The representatives outlined calls made from the home and to and from a cell phone used and carried by Kathy Lowe. According to phone company records, eight calls were made from the home phone to Kathy Lowe’s cell phone between 7:46 and 8:59 p.m., the times she was supposed to have been held hostage by her husband. Calls were also made to Bryan Lowe’s cell phone and Kathy Lowe’s mother’s home phone.
Additionally, a series of calls were made from Kathy Lowe’s cell phone to Amanda and Bryan Lowe’s cell phones, Kathy Lowe’s mother’s home and, moments after the shooting, to Marshall County Sheriff Scott Walls’ cell phone. Incoming calls were also received from Bryan Lowe.
Alleged boyfriend
Nixon Chapel Volunteer Fire Department Chief Brian K. Walls took the stand as a friend of the Lowes who had been members of his department since 2006.
Walls testified that a Nixon Chapel VFD firefighter had a relationship with Kathy Lowe that caused two fellow Nixon Chapel firemen to file complaints of inappropriate conduct against the firefighters. According to Walls, two separate incidents reported by firemen in mid-2008 and again in September 2008 forced Walls to convene an officers’ meeting to discuss the firefighter’s conduct. The officers gave him the option of resigning from the VFD in an effort to keep his and the fire department’s good name and character intact, or be fired.
“He was seen kissing Kathy Lowe after a training session one night” in September, Walls said. “(A lieutenant) observed them and submitted a written statement to me the next day.
“We have conduct policies in place because we get federal grant money and we abide by their rules.”
Walls also testified Kathy Lowe had brought a copy of a do-not-resuscitate order, or an advanced life directive, to the fire department asking Walls to keep it on file. To Walls’ knowledge, no one has ever brought a DNR to the fire department during his eight years as fire chief. No similar documents were filed for Kathy Lowe or her children at that time, Walls said.
Autopsy results
State Medical Examiner Valerie Green testified to David Lowe’s autopsy results and said he suffered two gunshot wounds to the back, one of which was fatal.
Green said David Lowe was shot twice near his left shoulder blade, one wound about three inches below the other.
The first bullet penetrated his skin, went through the bones on the side of his spinal cord but caused no damage to the spinal cord itself, grazed the lower lobe of his lung and lodged in the right atrium of his heart. This wound was the fatal wound, Green said.
The second bullet entered in the muscles between the 11th and 12th ribs, perforated his diaphragm, hit his left kidney, pancreas and intestines before lodging in the muscles. He also suffered hemorrhaging around the left kidney.
Toxicology tests run on his blood samples tested negative for any illicit drugs and alcohol.
Witnesses
Diane Lamons, a retiree from both the Marshall County Sheriff’s office and District Attorney’s office, said she talked to Kathy Lowe by phone the day after the shooting while working at the DA’s office. She said Kathy Lowe explained to her David Lowe held her at gunpoint for several hours the day before and held her hostage. He allowed her to go to the bathroom at one point, but met her in the hall with a gun. Kathy Lowe said she told David Lowe to “go ahead and kill me” before returning to the living room. She went to the bathroom a second time later and was able to sneak into the bedroom to retrieve a gun, Kathy Lowe told Lamons.
She tried to sneak into the kitchen but was “caught” by David Lowe who slammed her into cabinets before following her out to the pool. She told him they both needed time apart to “cool off” but he refused to leave her, Lamons said.
Kathy Lowe said she fired two shots into the air to prove she knew how to use the gun before she saw David Lowe reach for his gun. Lamons said Kathy Lowe told her she was convinced David Lowe was going to shoot her, then go to her mother’s house nearby and kill her mother and two children. That is when Kathy Lowe shot David Lowe, Lamons said.
Lamons also testified that David Lowe and his son, Bryan Lowe, had fought over money. She said Bryan Lowe “irritated” David Lowe with constant requests for money and refusal to get a job.
Cynthia Canfield, a retiree from the DA’s office, testified Kathy Lowe called the DA’s office the day after the shooting and talked to her. She said Kathy Lowe told her the events unfolded differently, saying David Lowe argued all day over Kathy Lowe’s decision to allow daughter Amanda Lowe to use the family car.
Amanda Lowe called Kathy Lowe during the evening, saying she had returned from a school ballgame and was at her grandmother’s home nearby. During the phone call, Kathy Lowe asked to speak with Bryan Lowe, telling him she and David Lowe were arguing, the fight was bad and not to allow Amanda Lowe to return to the family’s home, Canfield said. Kathy Lowe also told Bryan Lowe she was going to try to diffuse the situation if possible, she told Canfield.
Canfield said the ending of the story was the same, that Kathy Lowe shot two rounds into the air, then shot David Lowe once before firing blindly at him two more times.
In cross examination, Canfield told defense attorney Richard Tuten Kathy Lowe had told her of one instance of domestic violence where she had gotten between David and Bryan Lowe.
Dola Dyson, a former DA’s office employee, testified she stopped by Kathy Lowe’s mother’s home the day following the shooting. Her conversation with Kathy Lowe included David Lowe holding her hostage for 45 minutes before being able to run into another room to find a gun. She took the gun and ran outside, Kathy Lowe told Dyson, but David Lowe found her. When his right hand reached toward a gun in his right pocket, Kathy Lowe was forced to shoot him, Dyson said she was told.
Dyson said during her visit, Kathy Lowe seemed “very calm and collected” and was not crying. She also said the children were not emotional and did not cry or display any type of emotions.
Dyson said she thought David Lowe “worshiped the ground” Kathy Lowe walked on but that Kathy Lowe “wore the pants in the family,” during the time she knew the couple.
Canfield was recalled and stated Kathy Lowe had told her a story of how Bryan Lowe had hidden a gun of some type in the fields behind the house “in case he ever had to take his daddy out, he wouldn’t have to get too close.”
Charles Lee, a 17-year veteran of the DA’s office, testified he talked to Kathy Lowe by phone Nov. 12, when Kathy Lowe asked him to be a pallbearer for David Lowe’s funeral.
The day began with David and Kathy Lowe arguing and David Lowe pointing a gun at Kathy Lowe most of the day. Lee said Kathy Lowe told him the argument began over a credit or debit card statement. David Lowe followed Kathy Lowe throughout the house, telling her to get a gun so they could “shoot it out.”
Kathy Lowe was able to get a gun later in the evening, but David Lowe took it from her, taking out the bullets after pointing and cocking another gun at her, she told Lee.
The couple scuffled over the gun in the kitchen, Lee said Kathy Lowe told him, and she ran out of the house to the pool steps. David Lowe tried to get Kathy Lowe to go back into the house with him, but she refused, Lee said.
She “popped off” a couple of rounds then shot David Lowe as he reached for his gun. She shot at him two more times “with her eyes shut,” then ran to her mother’s house nearby for help, Lee said he was told.
Inconsistencies
During nearly five hours on the witness stand Wednesday, ABI agent Bradley Renfroe discussed Kathy Lowe’s statements made to him in the early morning hours following the shooting and again in a second meeting in late January.
He pointed out inconsistencies in her story, including if she was truly held hostage by her husband, and if so, for how long, and what was the actual trigger for the argument that ultimately led to David Lowe’s death late in the evening Nov. 11, 2008
Son’s 911 call
On Wednesday, the court heard a 911 call placed by her son, Bryan, immediately following the shooting and testimony from Alabama Bureau of Investigation officers regarding her statements made hours and months following the incident.
During the 911 call, Bryan Lowe is heard initially reporting “y’all have a domestic violence case at my house. You’re going to need to get deputies here now,” he continues.
He told dispatchers, “I don’t know if my dad killed my mom or if he committed suicide … Dad is trying to get up and trying to pull a gun on my mom. I’m going over there to see what is going on and take care of my mom.
“She pulled a gun on my dad and shot my dad … I’m not going up there … he’s trying to get a gun out.”
In the background of the call, a person sobbing loudly can be heard.
The trial is expected to last into next week.
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